Mother and Son
by kppancake
Summary: What if, via Melisandre's magic, Jon was able to somehow re-connect with Lyanna Stark and what would they discuss in that conversation? 'Mother and Son' covers how Jon learned about his past, his parents, and what he must do in order to protect his home.


**_Hello my dear readers, bloody hell I've been gone a long time... But I'm back! Because I'm a university student who is in a mountain of deadlines, what better way to procrastinate that to write a fic about an idea I've had floating around in my head for a while. Whilst it is highly unlikely that the events of this story would ever occur in the books or the show, I've been wondering if Jon could somehow have a conversation with his mother, Lyanna, what would they disucss._**

 ** _I hope you enjoy my return to writing and my first ASOIF fic!_**

 **All characters and locations mentioned belong to George R.R. Martin.**

* * *

The space around him appeared pure white at first, but as he gathered his vision it became clear that the white was snow falling around him and the environment transformed into the familiar scene of the Godswood outside Winterfell. Comforting feelings swelled up inside him as this was the place where he grew up, where he and Robb would pretend to be Aemon the Dragonknight, play-fighting together as brothers. The snow was settling on the ground, covering the greenery of the forest and the flowers surrounding the area. Jon realised where precisely he was in the Godswood, by the cold pool in front of the great heart tree with the ever-watching face of the Old Gods. As his vision increased, he noticed a figure sitting underneath the heart tree, similar to where his father would whenever he had to serve justice as Warden of the North. His vision became clearer and noticed that the figure was a young woman with raven hair in a dark blue gown looking at the weirwood, almost as if she was in prayer. He believed that she was no older he was, around twenty years of age. Jon walked cautiously towards her, unaware of her identity, and as he came closer the woman became more aware of the fact that she was not alone. She lifted her head, stood up and turned around. Noticing Jon, her eyes widened and her mouth gaped slightly, taking in his hardened Stark features as he looked to her confused at the possibly of recognising him.

"How are you here?" the woman asked in her thick northern accent.

"A red woman told me to open my eyes" Jon replied with a slightly defensive tone, still unsure of the woman and her character.

The raven-haired woman, shorter than Jon, stared into his eyes and in earnest asked him, "do you know who I am?"

"A woman of the North…" the woman nodded with a somewhat disappointed look and turned back to the weirwood tree. "The red woman told me that I was lied to my whole life, a crannogman told me that my father was not my father and I am not who I believed myself to be. He took me to the crypts of Winterfell with my brother to show me who I am and he showed me you. Your tomb and a silver harp."

The mention of the harp made the woman's hairs on the back of her neck stand up and turned around slowly. "I don't know why there was a harp there, but my brother told me that Lord Eddard Stark was not my father".

"No, he is not" the woman replied with a sad tone.

"And my mother was not some tavern whore."

"Depends who you ask" she replied with a sharpness in her sentence.

"She was a high-born northern lady. The crannogman told me that she was the most honourable woman he ever knew".

There was a silence as the two of them stared at each other, "do you know who I am?" she asked again in a quiet volume.

"Mother", the woman's lips formed slowly into a smile and her eyes began to water as she stared at the face of the boy she left twenty years previous.

"My son, my wonderful son" she stated as she walked towards him and enveloped him in a hug as he wrapped his arms around him. For the first time, both mother and son were reunited for the first time since birth.

After a long hug, Lyanna released herself from Jon's arms and took another look at him, "You look so much like me" she giggled to herself as she wiped away the tears from her eyes, "you do look like a Stark". A sense of pride filled up Jon as he heard those words, the one thing he had been denied all his life, was now being confirmed by a Stark. Lyanna cupped Jon's face and smiled, taking her hands away she began to move back towards the weirwood, indicating to Jon to join her. Jon followed suit and sat next to her in front of the cool pool.

There was an awkward silence before Lyanna asked, "What did Ned call you?" Jon looked back up at his mother and replied, "Jon". Lyanna made a noise of knowing, saying, "I suppose it's close enough."

"What do you mean?"

"Well he couldn't exactly give you the name I gave you."

"Is the name you gave me not good enough?"

"No… if Robert had heard your name, he surely would have tried to kill you"

"Robert?"

"Robert Baratheon". Jon looked slightly confused at this until he remembered what Howland had told him.

"You were betrothed to him, weren't you?"

"Yes, and he loved me, but I told my brother that Robert would never keep to one bed" Lyanna replied with a melancholy tone, "it was discovered before the tourney of Harrenhal that Robert had a bastard daughter in the Vale whilst he was being fostered there with your uncle". Jon had to adjust his way of thinking of his 'father' – to be lied to for so long to protect him had him in a sense of shock. Eddard Stark, one of the most honourable men in the Seven Kingdoms, had lied to everyone about having a bastard child. Lied to his family, his friends, Lady Catelyn who had treated him so poorly over the years as he was the supposed symbol of his _father's_ infidelity.

"Why would King Robert want to kill me?" Jon asked, still slightly confused.

"Oh, he became king, did he? Idiotic bastard" Jon stifled a laugh at his mother description of the late king. Howland had mentioned that Lyanna was not afraid of speaking her mind and so far, it had proven to be true. "Your father would have been a wonderful king. He was loved by the small folk and respected by the lords of Westeros."

Jon's eyes widen when he heard this statement and looked at Lyanna with disbelief, "Who was my father?"

"Did Howland not tell you?" Jon shook his head, his eyes still open wide.

"I'm sure you're aware of the reason for Robert's idiotic war."

"You were kidnapped."

"Ha, as if I would allow any man to kidnap me or do something against my will", Jon nodded slightly in acknowledged, his mother surely was a she-wolf. "I went willingly with the man who 'kidnapped' me. I was in love with him and he promised me a better life. A life where we could be together, where I could openly be myself, train in swordsmanship with some of the greatest knights of the Seven Kingdoms and a place where we could be equals".

"He promised you a lot…"

"He did. And he delivered." Jon attempted to understand his mother's cryptic words as she danced around the subject. After a few seconds passed, Lyanna continued, "It's lucky that you look so much like me otherwise it would have been obvious to Robert about your paternal lineage".

"Who is my father?"

Lyanna looked at Jon with sadness in her eyes, "Rhaegar Targaryen".

Jon stood there, looking at Lyanna silently with his mouth gaping slightly open. The crown prince of Dragonstone, the man his adopted father had been fighting, was his father. He didn't know how to process this, he was half-Targaryen. That made him related to the Dragon Queen invading in the South and although this was meant to help him regain his identity, he simply felt lost.

"Jaehaerys? Are you all right?" Lyanna asked concerned for her son.

Suddenly Jon snapped out of his over-thinking, reacting to Lyanna's words, "What did you call me?"

"That was the name I gave you. Your father and I discussed names before you were born and we agreed on Jaehaerys. Both Jaehaerys I and II were wise kings, good to their people-" Lyanna was cut off by Jon's attempt to process his new-found heritage.

"But that makes me part Targaryen"

"Yes, it does."

"But it also means that I'm just bastard. After all this time, I've tried to make myself fit in as a Stark, but I was always viewed as a Snow, 'you're a Snow, not a Stark' and when I finally fit in somewhere, when I am finally recognised by the Northern Houses as **someone** … I'm just a bastard with a different name from a different place in Westeros. What are the names for Targaryen bastards? Blackfyres? Waters?"

"Jon…" Lyanna attempted to calm her son, but he continued to rant.

"After all this time, I thought I was of the North-"

"You are of the North."

"Not truly! I'm just some half-Targaryen bastard adopted by an honourable man and it is my fault that he had to lie to everyone. Just for some bastard-"

"You're not a bastard!" Lyanna shouted. Jon, about to continue his sentence, stopped and looked at his mother's face.

"What…?"

"Rhaegar and I were married on the Isle of Faces." Lyanna began to explain, "at the time, my father and siblings were at Riverrun in preparation for your Uncle Brandon's wedding to Catelyn Tully". _'Lady Catelyn was meant to marry Brandon? Funny how these things come around'_ Jon thought as Lyanna continued her tale. "We reached Riverrun in the afternoon, and there was a blessing their Sept where we sang the 'Song of the Seven'. Of course, we follow the Old Gods, so your Uncle Benjen and I were taking the piss at first until my father scolded us. Whilst in the Sept, I kept seeing a figure in a black cloak at the back of the room who kept smiling at me. It was only when I looked back towards the end of the hymn, that I could see the silver hair of a Targaryen emerging slightly from the hood of the cloak and realised that it was Rhaegar. Once the blessing had finished and everyone was to retire to their quarters, I went back to my room to find your father waiting for me.

"'What are you doing here?' I asked him and he replied with one of his bright smiles, saying 'To see you, of course'. We had not seen each other since the tourney of Harrenhal, but had exchanged secret letters via a specific raven which would arrive at my window at Winterfell at night. That night, he said that he wanted me to come away with him and we would live a happy life together. At first, I was taken aback, I'll admit, but it was when your father got down on one knee and said, 'My lady of the Laughing Tree, will you marry me?'".

"Wait," Jon interrupted his mother's tale, "you were the Knight of the Laughing Tree?"

Lyanna laughed at her son's shock, "yes, it was. That was how your father and I met as he helped me escape from King Aerys." Jon was shocked, but also in awe how strong his mother was and could see that wolf-blood ran strong in the female Starks, thinking of Arya's wild nature.

"Your father proposed to me and, for some reason, I agreed. I had been very much against marriage and I believe that was because I was being told by so many people that I **had** to marry a man that I did not love; however, marrying someone that I truly loved didn't seem too bad." Lyanna laughed a little at that thought, "Rhaegar kissed me and told me, 'Right then, let's go', which to me at first was insane. Where would we go? He had everything prepared: not too far from Riverrun was the Isle of Faces, where we could be married before the Old Gods. We were to ride there immediately where three members of the Kingsguard – Ser Oswell Whent, Ser Arthur Dayne, and Ser Gerald Hightower – would act as our witnesses and Howland would give me away."

"We spent the early evening riding to the Isle of Faces with dark cloaks covering our faces and clothing. We talked about everything to how my family would react to find out that I was married, but remembered that it would make me happy. How would his family react to find out that Rhaegar had taken another wife as per the old Targaryen tradition?" Lyanna contemplated these questions as Jon listened intently about the details of his parents he never knew, "we took a boat over the God's Eye to the isle where, low and behold, the knights greeted us and Howland hugged me. I thanked him for agreeing to this, he only said 'if you are happy'. Rhaegar was right, everything was prepared. A wedding dress for me with a wedding circlet made from blue winter roses and white jewels; a member from the order of the Green Men to officiate and oversee what he called, the Pact of Ice and Fire; royal attire for your father, and ring with a sapphire embedded to symbolise our union." Lyanna brought her left hand over to Jon's lap to show him the ring, in the vision the stone shone and contrasted with the bright white snow covering the landscape.

"It was one of the happiest moments of my life," Lyanna stated, remembering fondly the evening of her wedding, "as a wedding present, your father gave me the one thing I wanted more than anything: a sword. My own sword which I could wear and train with, Rhaegar was giving me the chance to train with him and the Sword of the Morning himself! In my opinion, that was the greatest gift I had ever received. That night, we stayed at Harrenhal at the camp which the Kingsguard and your father had set up for us. Howland would head north back to Greywater Watch, whilst the five of us were to make for the Red Mountains of Dorne, where you were born". Lyanna looked and smiled at Jon when she mentioned his birth, "the furthest I had been south was Harrenhal, so for me, this was a new adventure and trust me, I was not prepared for the heat!" she laughed at the memory of the sun shining strongly down on them as they sweated profoundly as they rode. "After a **very** long ride, we ended up staying at a watch tower in the mountains and this became our home. Our own little bubble whilst the rest of Westeros went about their business. However, it didn't take long until the rebellion began. Your father tried to stay out of it, preferring to stay with me and when I told him I was pregnant with you, he was… overjoyed. Overcome with happiness, in fact. It was only when the royal forces were failing that your father decided that he had to go…" Lyanna paused before continuing, "he loved you very much Jaehaerys".

His parents' love story intrigued Jon as this was the truth, this was his past, and this was his family. It was difficult adjusting to Lyanna calling him by his birth name, but he wanted to know more about them. "Why was there a harp in your tomb?"

Lyanna took a moment to think, but it came to her, "Ned must have brought it back from the tower. It belonged to your father."

"I don't know much about him, but I heard he was a good musician."

"Oh, a wonderful musician. It was his pride and joy, and sometimes when he was feeling forlorn, he would drag the Kingsguard to the ruins of Summerhall and write music. It was his music that first made me aware of your father during a feast at the tourney of Harrenhal."

"Do you think father, I mean Ned, left it for a reason?" Jon enquired curiously.

"Possibly… did he ever mention anything about your parentage?"

"The last time I saw him, he said that the next time we met that we'd talk about my mother. Maybe he was going to tell me… maybe he left it with you so that you could have a piece of my father with you since you could not be buried together."

Lyanna's face dropped in sorrow, "I never truly found out how your father died, only that he was killed in combat." She reached over and took Jon's hands in hers and looked in his eyes with tears welling up in hers, "I'm so sorry my son… I wish I could have been there for you, to watch you grow into the man you were meant to become."

Jon gripped Lyanna's hands tighter and moved closer to her side, placing one of his hands in her hair, "Mother" he said quietly as he comforted her. Of course, we wished that for all those years, people did not tilt their noses up at him, call him 'bastard' when he was not, and how he wished Lady Catelyn had not isolated him so from their home. But what could be done? Everything was done out of love and concern for his protection, it was clear that his mother loved him dearly and from what he heard, his father too. "There is no need for an apology" he said quietly as he stroked Lyanna's dark hair, a colour so similar to his that it was obvious that they were related. He pulled away from his mother and asked, "do I look anything like my father?"

"Maybe around the nose?" Lyanna giggled a little as she wiped away the remaining tears and began to smile slightly once again. "I never thought I would ever get this chance".

"Neither did I," Jon replied "but the red woman told me it was necessary to learn where I came from in order to confront the threat that lies ahead…"

"The prince that was promised…" Lyanna whispered.

"How do you know about that?" Jon asked with a surprised tone. He had not heard that term until he encountered Melisandre, so how could his mother who had never met a red priestess know of that title.

"Your father was obsessed with a prophecy which mentioned 'the prince that was promised'. He believes wholeheartedly in his 'prophetic' dreams and prophecy, and that there was as threat beyond our imagination waiting for us in the North. I discovered a book he was reading one night by the window in our bedroom."

' _She is right,'_ Jon thought, _'maybe there is some form of truth to her Red God nonsense'._ "Mother, there is a threat waiting for us beyond the Wall and it has fallen to me and hopefully, the help of another Targaryen, to stop it."

The look on Lyanna's face was one of shock – Rhaegar had been right. His prophecy-obsessed mind had been right and Lyanna passed it off as nonsense. "Your father would have been very proud of you. Do what you must do, for the good of the realm."

Suddenly, the Godswood began to fade around him and his vision blurred once more, losing sight of the heart tree, of the cool pool, and of his mother. Jon struggled, there was so much more he wanted to know about his parents and their short lives together, but the vision was fading and his time here was up.

* * *

Jon awoke to Melisandre, Ser Davos Seaworth, and Howland Reed surrounding the chair he was sat on during his vision.

"Now you know", the Red Woman stated. Jon was still in a state of shock, he wasn't Jon Snow after all. He was Jaehaerys III Targaryen, the only living son of the Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and the She-Wolf, Lyanna Stark.

Jon stared at Howland, "You were right" he said quietly. Howland nodded in acknowledgement, "I do look like her", Jon stated, making Howland smile.

"Your Grace," Ser Davos began, "what did you see?"

Jon paused for a moment, contemplating how to summarise the experience, and simply stated, "the truth". He rose from his seat and picked up Longclaw in its hilt, making his way towards the door. Before exiting the room, he turned around and said, "I will need to meet with the Mother of Dragons. We have much to discuss about the wars to come."

"Your Grace, the Dragon Queen is in the South" Ser Davos reminded him, but Jon replied with, "then we shall go to the South. My sister, Lady Sansa will be left to rule Winterfell in my absence and all orders are to be taken from her."

"If I may enquire Your Grace, what will Dragon Queen have to offer? She is clearly focused on conquering the Southern kingdoms, which are not our problem."

"Well, I think it's time I met someone from my father's side of the family."

* * *

 ** _If you enjoyed this story, don't forget to leave a review and favourite this story. I've been considering writing a prequel to this which is the events that transpired between Rhaegar and Lyanna, in order to fill the space between the Winds of Winter and Season 7, let me know as I have my own version of the events which I would love to write._**

 ** _Have a lovely day and I'll see you soon._**

 ** _~ kppancake_**

 ** _xxx_**


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